History Film / WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane

** [[spoiler: Though she hides it better, Blanche is also quite petty: murdering her own sister out of pure sisterly rivalry, lying about it, and using that lie to abusively manipulate her own sister for ''decades'']].

* BeautyInversion: Creator/BetteDavis happily did this to play Jane, as noted above. Creator/JoanCrawford on the other hand struggled to look unattractive for the role - wanting to have impeccable hair and make-up, despite being an invalid who hadn't left her room in twenty years. Although, in the book, it is mentioned multiple times that Blanche had aged gracefully and kept her good looks.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Jane was an angelic little girl and a reasonably attractive young woman but has now grown old and is a complete mess. In contrast, Blanche has aged well enough. [[spoiler: Weirdly enough, once she learns the truth from Blanche, her face brightens up a bit.]]

* LargeHam: Bette Davis' portrayal of Jane. Joan Crawford has a few moments too, resulting in HamToHamCombat.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Jane has no idea that "Baby Jane Hudson" has been totally forgotten, and thinks lots of people would love to see her make a comeback.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The young Baby Jane Hudson is billed as "the diminutive dancing duse from Duluth".

* TakeOurWordForIt: We never find out what Jane wrote about Blanche on the envelope containing her fan letters, with Elvira only saying, "I can't remember the last time I saw words like that written down". (In 1962, it probably would've been impossible to say such words in a movie.)

* StockFootage: Clips from real Bette Davis movies ''Film/ParachuteJumper'' and ''Ex-Lady'' are used to show how Jane Hudson's attempt to make it as a grown-up actress went bad.

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Elvira, despite knowing for a fact that Jane is mentally unstable, leaves a hammer within her reach and turns her back on her. She doesn't make it more than a few steps into Blanche's room before she's killed.]]

* DaylightHorror: [[spoiler:Blanche's presumed death, and Jane's final descent into madness,]] take place at a crowded beach on a sunny day.

* TheUnfavorite: Blanche in the 1910s. Her father seems to openly dislike her and though her mother is kinder to her, she is largely overlooked. It's quite possible the roles are reversed when the sisters go to live with their aunt, who openly favors Blanche the same way their father favored Jane.

* VillainousBreakdown: Jane goes completely insane at the end, and when she's discovered by the police, and as a crowd gathers around her, she starts her old song-and-dance routine.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The main portion of the film claims to be set "yesterday."

* DeathbedConfession: On the beach, [[spoiler:when Blanche thinks that she's dying, she tells Jane the truth about the car accident.]]

* DeadAnimalWarning: Jane begins denying Blanche food, until she serves Blanche's dead pet parakeet—and, at a later meal, a dead rat—to her on a dinner platter

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Blanche was endlessly bitter about the preferential treatment her sister got as a child. The situation only declined further when they were adults, as their careers were tied together. Every film Blanche made, one had to be made with Jane, and Jane couldn't act; meaning every flop Jane made damaged Blanche's career. Finally Blanche had enough, and tried to kill her sister, but ended up crippling herself. Blanche made it look like Jane was responsible; even Jane believed this, since she was drunk, and couldn't remember the night. Thus, she was forced to live with guilt for the rest of her life. Still bitter, Blanche forced her sister to wait on her hand and foot for thirty years before Jane loses her mind, and TheDogBitesBack.]]

* GoodColorsEvilColors: The fact that Jane is blonde and wears white, while Blanche has black hair and wears dark clothes, should be the first clue that all is not as it seems. It's especially noticeable because Blanche's name ''means'' "white."

* OneHitWonder: In-universe example: Jane with "I've Written a Letter to Daddy." [[invoked]] She did appear to have other songs, but that appeared to be her most requested one.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Jane was an angelic little girl and a reasonably attractive young woman but has now grown old and is a complete mess. In contrast, Blanche has aged well enough.

Aging sisters Blanche (Crawford) and "Baby" Jane Hudson (Davis) live together in a decaying Hollywood mansion. Jane is a former {{vaudeville}} child star from the 1910s, but her fame disappeared a long time ago. Blanche, meanwhile, was a successful film actress in the '30s, but was crippled in a mysterious car accident involving Jane and in now confined to a wheelchair.

* IntimateHairBrushing: In the remake, there's a PetTheDog moment between the sisters is when Blanche gets Jane to wash her hair and comb it. Unfortunately, Jane then starts [[TraumaticHaircut cutting it]].

* RichSiblingPoorSibling: The movie has several reversals through a DeconReconSwitch that is at the heart of the story. First, Jane is the spoiled sister, as the beloved child star and vaudeville act while her sister Blanche is shy and reserved. Then, after Jane's act falls out of favor, she becomes TheAlcoholic and Blanche becomes an acclaimed prestige actress who leaves Jane totally in her shadow. Then it gets deconstructed after Blanche's car accident, when she is dependent on Jane, which Jane uses to torture Blanche and get her revenge.

* AdaptationalHeroism: [[spoiler:As in the book, Blanche is revealed as the culprit behind the accident that crippled her. But the book also reveals that Blanche prevented Jane from seeking psychiatric help afterwards, worrying that she would remember what happened if she did. This is left out of the movie]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The main portion of the film avoids giving a specific time date, only using "yesterday" as a scale of time.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: While "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" was invented for this movie, it's a parody of a very real song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv7AaF1R534 "I Want A Pardon for Daddy"]], itself only one of a small universe of popular vaudeville tearjerkers written from the perspective of young children with dead/imprisoned parents, with titles such as "Roses On Mother's Grave" (the roses dear Mother tended with such care now decorate her grave), "The Empty Chair" (a list of all the chairs in which dear Father will never sit again), and "Mother Never Laughs Anymore" (the lyrics are unclear if Mother is grieving Father or if she stopped laughing because she herself is dead). Point being, "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" may be a parody, but it's ''barely'' an exaggeration.

* RaceLift: The cleaning lady in the book was a white woman called Edna. In the book, she's a Black woman called Elvira.